Ambition summit concludes decarbonisation is achievable

The ‘Ambition 1.5oC: Global Shipping’s Action Plan’ summit concluded that the international shipping industry does have the technology toolbox required for decarbonisation.

However, it was decided, some solutions required are still in late-stage development, not yet mature, or require significant upscaling for deployment and market readiness.

Investments in alternative fuels are key for shipping to decarbonise in the longer term, participants also concluded.

Container demonstrator

Summit commitments at the core of the decarbonisation Action Plan include making a container ship available as a test/demonstrator vessel for low carbon and zero emissions technologies and urgently working towards the establishment of a CO2 levy to stimulate the uptake of clean technology and low carbon operations.

Other initiatives include finding shipping companies who will go beyond legislation – and actively supporting them; enhancing collaboration between Think-Tanks and NGOs that are active in the sector and pooling resources; creating a powerful platform for cross-stakeholder engagement; and changing company operations to collaborate more intensively with equipment suppliers and to further embed more ambitious R&D into company structures.

The Action Plan was established to map out how shipping can contribute its ‘fair share’ of GHG reductions and decarbonise quickly and deeply enough to meet the high ambition climate change target of limiting global temperatures to 1.5oC, as indicated in the Paris Agreement.

The summit took place during the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).